Red Wine, My Absolute Favorite Vino!

Mmmmmm, red wine. I remember the very first time I ever tried it. No, it was not a beautiful bottle of Valpolicella or a smooth chianti.... Being only 20 what was available at this backyard barbecue was yes, a hideous large bottle of ruby red. The biggest one with a large ring on it. Not what I would suggest you try.

Tips For Choosing Red Vino:

go to your local wine bar or winery and try before you buy

signup for newsletters from your local winery or winebars, you will hear about specials first

do not buy from a store if all the bottles are standing up, wine should be store on its side

also avoid stores where most of the wines are either giant jugs or boxes of wine

do read up on your local wines, find out what wines are worth buying before you go shopping

when in doubt ask the cork dork behind the counter for suggestions, if they appear to have minimal knowledge...find another store.

don't buy from a store where the bottles are excessively dusty and the wine labels have been faded by the sun. Also if it's really warm in the store, avoid.

To see some red wine selections go here

Go here to see our top picks of pinot noir's

Go here to see our top picks of merlot's

Go here to see our top picks of cabernet sauvignon

After two glasses of ruby red wine you might end up seeing elephants the next morning. Pink elephants that is. If you find yourself up against those pink elephants too, than check out prevent-hangovers.com They are your complete source for hangover remedies, tips and cure to help chase those pink elphants and headaches away. I like to go for preventative maintenence myself. My rule don't mix having any color wine with rum...

It's a good rule of thumb if you start drinking red, stay with it. If you start drinking white, stay with it. Same goes for sparkling, rose or champagne. Best to not mix. I've learned the hard way, a few times :-)

If you are interested in purchasing your red vino through a club and having it conveniently delivered to you door, try Cellars Wine Club They offer wines starting out at very reasonable prices, but they also cater to the connoisseur as well.

Their prices start out at $10 a bottle and go up to around $150 a bottle for some of their reds. You can also buy whites and champagne from them as well.

red wine

Signs that your wine has gone bad

Nowadays really bad wine is few and far between, even the lower priced wines with aging can become decent wines. Packaging and storage have come a long ways.

But here are some common characteristics most can agree upon that indicates your wine has gone bad...

moldy fruit smell and flavor

vinegar, smell and taste

bacterial or chemical smells (does it smell like rotten eggs, burnt rubber or nail polish remover? This is sulfur flaws, throw away

corky, otherwise known as corked. You will know right away when you smell it and even more when you taste it. Bad bottle.

The first realy good red wine I ever tried was chianti ruffino 2004. Well, that one glass opened up a whole new world of wine tasting for me.

Being a newbie red drinker I started my red wine adventures with the lighter French merlots. It was initially my favorite red when I first started drinking Reds.

Aaah...the French beaujolais nouveau, also a lighter very drinkable red. Same grape! They really didn't need much if any breathing time. So they were the perfect bottle to pick up for a last minute dinner.

Of course as with any red they did benefit from a little decanting, but they didn't really need it. They were fabulous from the very first sip. Bordeaux wines are also superb French Reds as well as the French Burgundy's.

After a couple of years of trying many wonderful French wines, I decided to go back to the original Italian wine that I loved. Afterall it was a chianti that got me hooked on reds for life. Some of my narrowed down favorite Italian wines are nipozzano (it's a chianti) Valpolicello, Chianti Ruffino (any) and barolo(also any).

If you love Italian wine, then why not plan a trip to Italy to experience the full romance of it. Let me know how your trip was when you get back. ;-)

I also tried my very first Australian Shiraz. It kind of put me off of shiraz's for awhile though, it was so heavy and strong (the first one I tried) that I didn't try another one again for several years.

Then I had a glass of yellowtail shiraz, much different to the first one I had tried a few years previous. Yellowtail wines are great value for their price point. I also came to really like their shiraz's cabernet blend.

Red goes very well with food. Why not try a Greek meat dish, like beef stew or moussaka, with your red wine? Check out delicious dishes at My Greek Recipes.

Then I decided to take a one trip for the very first time up to Kelowna BC. I thoroughly enjoyed the Mission Hill winery tour. Their staff was really helpful and friendly. Elizabeth our tour guide was fantastic, I will definitely get back up to Mission Hill soon. My two favorite red wines from them were their pinot noir , and their infamous Oculus red wine. They are both incredible wines. I think Oculus is probably the best red wine I have ever had. You pay for quality.... It is about 110 dollars Canadian a bottle, but it is so worth it.

But you don't have to spend a small fortune to find a decent red, but don't go too cheap either. There's a certain price point with a rouge, they can taste more like vinegar: really bad vinegar. My Grandma always said she didn't like wine, it tastes like vinegar. Chances are she had some cheap stuff that had gone bad. She did like ice wine though.

Take advantage of wine tasting bars, they seem to becoming more and more popular. Take advantage of knowledgeable staff for their recommendations. It is always preferable to taste it yourself if you can.

I'm extremely lucky to live in BC, Canada. Province wide we have hundreds of wineries, some close, some a bit of a drive away. If you live within a reasonable distance from a winery and love wine it is worth your time to check them out. red wine grapes Most wineries have beautiful gift shops with a variety of wines and things that go fabulously with the vino such as yummy organic gouda, unusual wine racks and other one of a kind gifts. I spent a small fortune at Mission Hill and a few others.

Red wine can be enjoyed year round, you can do sangria in the summer, mulled wine in the winter... Or you can enjoy a glass of cabernet sauvignon all year round.

I do have a glass of white or rose occasionally, but at the end of the day I prefer my glass of red wine. It is the perfect way to finish my day.

Cheers

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